Jeff King, 47, of Mission Viejo was lucky to already be at the hospital when he went into cardiac arrest. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE KING FAMILY

Jeff King learned the hard way that he was predisposed to blood clots.

King, 47, nearly died in 2006 because of a pulmonary embolism – a clot that obstructs blood flow through the lungs. He went into cardiac arrest twice, but luckily he was already in the trauma center at Mission Hospital when it happened.

The second time, he was unresponsive for 14 minutes, 35 seconds, King said. "Everyone starts taking their gloves off in the ER, and it's gonna be time of death, and that's the way it's gonna be. 'We didn't save this one.'" Then there was a beep, and King eventually recovered, without any neurological deficiencies that so often accompany an episode of prolonged interrupted blood flow to the brain.

Only after later tests did King find out he has something called factor V (as in "five") Leiden, a genetic mutation that increases the likelihood that he'll get blood clots. His three sons, age 16, 14 and 10, have it as well.

King played baseball in college and was a healthy, 41-year-old guy when he was stricken. He traveled on planes a lot for his job, which also raised his risk factor for a blood clot. He'd fractured an ankle lifting weights and was wearing a walking cast. After getting bugged about it in airport security, he tore it off at home. The next day, Sept. 13, 2006, he went downstairs and stood at the island in his kitchen, having his morning Diet Coke about 5:30 a.m., when he passed out.

"It came on in about four seconds," he said. "I thought, 'Man, I can't breathe,' and before I could even think about it, I fell over like a tree being chopped down."

A clot had formed in his ankle, and as the blood began flowing more freely in his system after he took off his cast, a piece of the clot broke off, zoomed up his leg and became lodged in a lung artery.

His dog started barking; his oldest son called 911. "And I got saved," King said.

People of European ancestry (King's forebears are Scottish) have a higher incidence of factor V Leiden, which is a mutation of factor V, a protein that helps the blood coagulate properly. According to the National Blood Clot Alliance, the average chance of developing a deep vein thrombosis of a pulmonary embolism is about 1 in 1,000. But people who've inherited one copy of the factor V Leiden genetic mutation from their parents have a much higher chance of such a clot – about 1 in 250. People who've inherited two copies of the mutation – about 1 in every 5,000 of us – see their chances of a clot rise as high as 1 in 12.

There's no treatment for the mutation, but clots can be prevented by maintaining a healthy weight, and through proper hydration. People who don't have a diagnosed clot should not take blood thinners.

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